Mother Carey's chicken
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of Mother Carey's chicken
First recorded in 1760–70; origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mother Carey's chicken hovers near when the elements are at strife.
From Romantic Spain A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. II) by O'Shea, John Augustus
This little schooner was in ballast, and skimmed over the seas like a Mother Carey's chicken; ranged up on our weather quarter and hailed us.
From Jack in the Forecastle or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale by Sleeper, John Sherburne
You don’t want me to take in sail surely with this wind, you old Mother Carey’s chicken?
From Picked up at Sea The Gold Miners of Minturne Creek by Hutcheson, John C. (John Conroy)
The Spaniard was hardly a mile to windward, a long, low, rakish craft, as black as a Mother Carey’s chicken.
From The Cruise of the Snowbird A Story of Arctic Adventure by Stables, Gordon
I am never tired of the calms, and I enjoy a stiff gale like a Mother Carey’s chicken, so long as I can be on deck or in the captain’s cabin.
From Letters from the Cape by Duff Gordon, Lucie, Lady
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.